Just wondering does anyone use wooden blanks any more? Does anyone know anything about this?
Thanks

Not to my knowledge. I published an article in RodMaker some time ago pertaining to making wooden fishing rods. It's something I've planned to do and acquired the materials for, but just haven't gotten around to it, yet.

Western Red Cedar is the material of choice for this application.

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There is a book by John Betts called "Making Strip-Built Fly Rods from Various Woods on a Lathe" that details building a wood rod.
There is also a book from the early 1900's called "Amateur Rodmaking" by Perry Frazer that has a section on building wood rods. This book is available as a free download elsewhere on the web.
Scott

I followed the article, more or less, on wood rods and it was one of the most fulfilling rods I have ever built. It gives you a taste of building a cane rod, and I gotta tell ya, fishing with a rod like this is incredibly enjoyable. There is nothing like expecting a rod to explode in a spectactular manner during a fight to get the full enjoyment of playing even the smallest of fish. There's no way I would do it for a paying customer, but for yourself it is wonderful. You will also learn a lot about tapers. It will really give you a new insight on the intricacies of blank design.

Tom, you really need to take some hours away from us lugs and build at least one of these.

I do have to mention that some people are incredibly sensitive to western red cedar (I learned this the very hard way) so make sure you have good ventilation and wear a dust mask at a minimum.

In the end, it made me wish that I could afford the cost and time of investing in cane building. I'm planning a few more for myself.